GEYER VALMONT’s Managing Principal of Design, Robert Price, recently joined the AMI 2026 Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, contributing to a broader discussion on how artificial intelligence is influencing design, delivery and decision-making in the workplace sector.
Held under the theme Becoming Students Again: Rethinking and Reimagining with AI, the conference brought together people from across business, design, technology and education to consider how AI is being used in practice, and what it may mean for the future of creative and commercial work.
Robert’s contribution focused on a challenge familiar to many in commercial property: how to help building owners, agents and tenants make faster, better-informed decisions during the leasing and workplace planning process.
With vacancy, speed to market and tenant expectations all placing pressure on traditional project timelines, there is growing interest in tools that can help teams test options earlier, visualise outcomes more clearly and reduce uncertainty before a project moves into delivery.
The discussion was not about replacing designers with technology. It was about where AI can support the process, and where human judgement remains essential.
For workplace design, that distinction matters. AI can assist with speed, iteration and visualisation, but it cannot replace context, taste, empathy, commercial understanding or the conversations that shape a strong brief.
The value of design still sits in knowing what questions to ask, how to interpret what people need, and how to turn ideas into spaces that work.
Robert’s session reflected a practical view of AI in the sector: useful, evolving and increasingly relevant, but most effective when paired with experienced design leadership.
